One of the most captivating displays of saintly relics is at the Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico in Siena, Italy, a town about 45 miles (72km) south of Tuscany. Worshippers and tourists who visit this search can see the mummified head of… Read More ›
Body snatchers
Santa Claus’ three graves
While the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy is widely accepted to be home to the relics of Saint Nicholas, there are two other cities that allege to possess his grave: Venice, Italy and Newtown Jerpoint, Ireland. This osteological controversy started when the… Read More ›
Extraordinary, terrible, and totally “true” tales of people who were buried alive
Taphophobia (taphos meaning grave and phobos meaning fear) is the fear of being buried alive and it permeated Europe and America in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was especially bad during cholera and small pox epidemics because people… Read More ›
The morbid history of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School was founded by Dr. John Warren on September 19, 1782 making it the third oldest medical school in the U.S. The alumni and faculty at this respected institution have made advances in the field of forensic science… Read More ›
Posed-Mortems: The unique displays of people who donated their whole bodies to science
In a display case in the South Cloisters at University College London sits the “Auto-Icon” of Jeremy Bentham. Jeremy Bentham (February 15, 1748-June 6, 1832) was a philosopher associated with Utilitarianism-something I had to look up. He was also a… Read More ›
Human bones found beneath Edinburgh house show city’s past as centre of excellence for anatomy
Human bones found beneath Edinburgh house show city’s past as centre of excellence for anatomy By Ben Miller at Culture24 Bones found buried in an Edinburgh garden could reflect the city’s anatomical past Drilled and threaded with wires, the smoothed-out… Read More ›
The resurrection of a mortsafe
The theft of dead bodies in England was a common occurrence in the early 19th century because medical schools could only dissect the bodies of executed criminals, which were in short supply. As medical schools expanded in the 18th and… Read More ›
This British artist was convicted of stealing body parts to create his sculptures.
Anthony-Noel Kelly is a British artist who made casts of dissected body parts for an exhibition at the London Contemporary Art Fair in 1997. The problem was is that he stole anatomical specimens from the Royal College of Surgeons to fabricate… Read More ›
Archaeologists believe the bones found in an Edinburgh garden may belong to the victims of body snatchers
In September 2012 construction workers renovating a townhouse in Edinburgh made a gruesome discovery in the garden…human bones in a shallow grave. According to The Scotsman, researchers now think it’s likely these remains may belong to the unfortunate victims of… Read More ›
1200 pieces of bone were found in the basement of a house rented by this Founding Father
In 1998, construction workers doing repair work in the basement at 36 Craven Street in London found more than 1200 pieces of bone (human and nonhuman) in a pit that was 1 meter wide and 1 meter deep. Since old human… Read More ›
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